1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrographic recorder cover assembly including a segment electrode assembly and a recording medium loading device, and particularly to a segment electrode assembly mounted to a recorder cover to retract to a protected position when the cover is open and to extend to an operative position when the cover is closed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, segment electrode assemblies in electrographic printers have been mounted in such a way that there was little or no protection against inadvertent damage from outside sources, particularly during loading and unloading of recorder paper. When the segment electrode assembly was left exposed during servicing and maintenance, prior art type printer equipment, including their covers, offered little or no protection to the electrode assembly. The assemblies were easily damaged or knocked out of alignment, particularly since an operator might catch part of his wearing apparel on the electrodes thereby bending them, or otherwise knocking them out of alignment. In many cases the segment electrodes were displayed in such a manner that they could, for instance, be disturbed by the operator while he was attempting some necessary operation, such as loading the recording paper or performing routine maintenance. Any misalignment or damage to the segment electrode assembly generally causes the printout to be defective and, therefore, unacceptable. The present invention, as described herein, has effectively eliminated the problems mentioned above.
Further, print readouts from electrographic printers used in the past have not been uniform in clarity. This, generally, has been caused by a misalignment between the segment electrode and the stylus board. For instance, when the cover of the printer was closed, a segment electrode would not, of itself, find proper angular alignment with the stylus board. The printout was thereby caused to have darker print toward one side and very light print toward the other. The invention described herein also effectively eliminates such problems.